Arsenal: Obtaining Fourth Center Back Is Key

Arsene Wenger has mismanaged Arsenal’s central defense partnership, and it has become clear that he needs a fourth central defender if he wants to win a trophy.

There’s a saying in sports that goes ‘defense wins championships’.

If that saying holds true for every team sport – which it does – then Arsenal would have never been able to win this year’s Premier League with that defense, anyway. So why is everyone so disappointed?!

On a more serious note concerning the Gunners’ defense, there is no way Arsenal can hope to win a title in the near future without an improvement to a key piece in the spine of their team.

In July 2015 Arsenal had three first-team center backs and Calum Chambers whose position still seems undecided.

Fans collectively understood and voiced their concern for the need for another center back. One with Premier League experience to solidify a defense that was exposed as shaky in 2014/15 and had only added Gabriel Paulista, an aggressive center back who had only played two seasons of European football.

Arsene Wenger made a wise choice by adding Petr Cech to further advance the talent level in his defense. But he placed too much trust in Laurent Koscielny and Per Mertesacker to not only remain healthy, but play well together throughout a season without letting up.

As we have seen, Arsenal have been extremely consistent – by appearing to lose their drive to keep winning during the winter period of Premier League seasons.

If Arsene Wenger didn’t see the performances of these center backs over a long period of time, then fine. But he’s on the touchline in every match. Therefore he’s got to recognize that he doesn’t have two Premier League winning center backs.

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Laurent Koscielny is not to be disrespected – the Frenchman has been a solid defender for years and we all know it. The trouble is, he needs a world-class partner. Without that he won’t himself improve, and his team will never stop conceding the same goals that are caused by a lack of focus.

In Arsene Wenger’s last year of his current contract – which isn’t necessarily his last contract at Arsenal, let’s be honest – he had better splash some of the accumulated funds at the Emirates on some world-class players to replace the spine of his team that he lost in the latter 2000’s.

Where a championship run starts in the Premier League is at the back. We’ve all seen how many 1-0 wins Leicester City have secured in the latter half of the season. The same thing happened with Chelsea in 2014/15, and it will continue to happen as long as the English top flight remains as competitive as it has been this season.

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There’s no doubt that when it comes time for the assessment of Arsenal’s past season’s objectives this summer, the minimum goals will have been achieved. But the game’s up now, boss. The fans and pundits know what you action you must take if you want to go out on a (very) high note.

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